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The Surface RT hits Microsoft's fiscal Q4 2013 results-- the company takes a $900 million "inventory adjustment" charge after it slashes the prices of the still unsuccessful tablet.

Microsoft recently cut Surface RT prices by as much as -30%, perhaps a sign of faltering sales for the ARM-powered Microsoft tablet.

Further affecting company results are $540m worth of "previously deferred revenue related to the Windows Upgrade Offer" and $733m in European Commission fine.

Microsoft Q4 revenues total $19.9 billion with -24% Y-o-Y decline, down from analyst expectations of $20.7bn. Operating income totals $6.07bn, while net income amounts to $4.97bn.

The Metro board manages to win one against Media-Saturn founder Erich Kellerhals over who calls the shots in the largest European CE retailer-- Reuters reports the Federal Supreme Court dismisses the Kellerhals complaints against the Metro advisory board.

The case was an appeal against an earlier, similar decision taken by the Munich Higher Regional Court.

Metro says it now has "legal and planning security," even if the courts fail to decide on a settlement between the two parties.

"We hope that the decision of the Supreme Court forms a basis for further pacification between shareholders," the retailer continues.

As the notebook market faces a dismal 2013 (following annus orribilis 2012) NPD says one device category actually shows growth-- Chromebooks, whose US sub-$300 notebook market share is up to 20-25% over the last 8 months.

According to IHS 2013 is set to be a second consecutive year of decline for the notebook market, even the analyst says powerful yet affordable models carrying AMD (Temash) and Intel (Bay Trail) processors might "save the market." The analyst however fails to give mention of the Google-powered alternative.

“While we were skeptical initially, I think Chromebooks definitely have found a niche in the marketplace,” NPD tells Bloomberg. “The entire computing ecosystem is undergoing some radical change, and I think Google has its part in that change.”

The main driver behind the growth of Chromebooks is, as one can expect price-- Chromebook model (from Acer, Samsung, HP, Lenovo and Google itself) prices start at around $199 and peak at $300, making them more attractive to customer wallets than relatively overpriced ultrabooks.

IEEE creates the IEEE 802.11 High Efficiency WLAN (HEW) study group, with the aim to enhance the efficiency and performance of current WLAN deployments-- creating a new wifi standard in the process.

The study group will consider use cases including dense network environments with large numbers of access points and stations.

Expressing interest in the future HEW project are over 300 individuals from equipment and silicon vendors, service providers, carriers, systems integrators, consultant organisations and academic institutions from over 20 countries. The IEEE 802.11 HEW study group meets up during IEE 802.11 WLAN working group meetings.

Better known as "wifi," the IEEE 802.11 standard underpins wireless networking around the world, and remains relevant with the emergence of applications such as smart grid, wireless docking and the so called "internet of things."

Go IEEE 802.11 High Efficiency WLAN Study Group Created